t was done at St. Agnes'. It was you who put it
into my head at the beginning of our correspondence that you were not
asking me formally to open the new church, because you were doubtful of
the effect your method of worship might have upon me. I don't wish for a
moment to suggest that you were trying to bundle on one side the
question of the licence, before I had had a moment to look round me in
my new diocese, I say I do _not_ think this for a moment; but inasmuch
as the question has come before me officially, as sooner or later it
must have come before me officially, I cannot allow my future action to
be prejudiced by giving you liberties now that I may not be prepared to
allow you later on. Suppose that in three years' time the question of
consecrating the new St. Agnes' arises and the legality of this third
altar or Holy Table is questioned, how should I be able to turn round
and forbid then what I have not forbidden now?"

"Your lordship prefers to force me to resign?"

"Force you to resign, Mr. Rowley?" the Bishop repeated in aggrieved
accents. "What can I possibly have said that could lead you to suppose
for one moment that I was desirous of forcing you to resign? I make
allowance for your natural disappointment. I make every allowance.
Otherwise Mr. Rowley I should be tempted to characterize such a
statement as cruel. As cruel, Mr. Rowley."

"What other alternative have I?"

"I should have said, Mr. Rowley, that you have one other very obvious
alternative, and that is to accept my ruling upon the subject of this
third altar or Holy Table. When I shall receive an assurance that you
will do so, I shall with pleasure, with great pleasure, give you a new
licence."

"I could not possibly do that," said the Missioner. "I could not
possibly go back to my people to-night and tell them this Holy Week that
what I have been teaching them for ten years is a lie. I would rather
resign a thousand times."

"That is a far more accurate statement than your previous assertion
that I was forcing you to resign."

"When will you have found a priest to take my place temporarily?" the
Missioner asked in a chill voice. "It is unlikely that the Silchester
College authorities will find another missioner at once, and I think it
rests with your lordship to find a locum tenens. I do not wish to
disappoint my people about the date of the opening of their new church.
They have been looking forward to this Easter for so long now. Poor